As disclosed in Laid-Open Japanese Patent Application No. 61-253595, there is known a coin receiving and dispensing machine which sorts received coins in accordance with their denominations, stores the sorted coins and uses the stored coins for dispensation.
The coin receiving and dispensing machine of this type comprises first transporting means for transporting received coins, first discriminating and counting means for discriminating the genuineness of the received coins and counting the number of genuine coins in accordance with their denominations, temporary storing means for temporarily storing coins which have been discriminated genuine and counted, second transporting means for coins temporarily stored in the temporary storing means inside of the coin receiving and dispensing machine, second discriminating and dispensing means for discriminating the denominations of coins being transported by the second transporting means, a plurality of coin storing means for storing coins in accordance with their denominations, sorting means for causing the coin storing means to selectively store coins in accordance with their denominations based upon the result of discrimination made by the second discriminating and counting means, dispensing means for, when a customer requests dispensation of coins, selectively dispensing coins in an amount corresponding to that requested by the customer from the coin storing means, a coin box for accommodating coins having denominations for replenishing coins in coin storing means in which the number of coins has become lower than a first predetermined number and accommodating coins having denominations which cannot be stored in coin storing means because the number of coins stored in the coin storing means has become greater than a second predetermined number greater than the first predetermined number, and distributing means for distributing coins stored in the coin box into the coin storing means whose coins are to be replenished.
The coin box provided in this coin receiving and dispensing machine serves two functions; to accommodate coins which cannot be stored in the coin storing means and to accommodate coins to be used for replenishing coins in the coin storing means.
Accordingly, if the number of coins stored in a coin storing means for storing coins of a certain denomination becomes lower than a first predetermined number and the number of coins of the denomination accommodated in the coin box is low, even if the number of coins stored in other coin storing means is not lower than the first predetermined number, it is necessary to remove the coin box from the coin receiving and dispensing machine and replenish it with coins of the denomination the number of which has become lower than the first predetermined number in the coin storing means.
However, while the coin box is removed from the coin receiving and dispensing machine and coins are being replenished, if coins are deposited into the machine and the number of coins in the coin storing means for storing another denomination of coins becomes greater than a second predetermined number, the coin storing means cannot store any further coins and since the coin box has been removed, the coin box cannot accommodate the coins which cannot be stored in the coin storing means. Therefore, the coin receiving operation cannot be carried out while the coin box is removed from the coin receiving and dispensing machine and the coins are being replenished. Further, even if the number of coins of the denomination stored in the coin storing means was greater than or equal to the first predetermined number when the coin box was removed from the coin receiving and dispensing machine, if a number of coins of a particular denomination has to be dispensed in response to a customer's request for dispensation, since the number of coins of the denomination may become short, the dispensing operation has to be stopped while the coin box is removed from the coin receiving and dispensing machine and coins are being replenished. As a consequence, the coin receiving and dispensing machine cannot be operated during replenishment of the coins in the coin box, so that the operational efficiency becomes low.
Therefore, the object of the present invention is to provide a coin receiving and dispensing machine in which received coins are utilized as coins to be dispensed and coins can be replenished and which can receive and dispense coins during coin replenishment.